


Burning Forest

by ThatGuyAlex



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Ending, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Romance, Short, Two Endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27700226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatGuyAlex/pseuds/ThatGuyAlex
Summary: He was a flame amidst a burning forest, a fire in his eyes that burned into the darkest parts of your soul.Completed: 1/17/20





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on January 17th, 2020. I've just reuploaded all my works to AO3 now that I have an account.

Our first meeting was in the forest. New to town and in need of an escape from the choking hold of overbearing parents and the screams of the newborn baby in the room across from mine, I ventured through the town and into the woods that would soon become my safe haven.

Snow crunched beneath my feet with every step I took, the harsh winter of late December was in full effect, and the wind cut through me like shards of glass cutting into skin. Rough, jagged, painful.

Yet I continued to walk, because even the chill of winter was better than whatever was back at home. I hadn't asked to leave, to be taken to an unknown town where nobody knew us. The thoughts of being back in that town, where I had friends and I was happy, it was so sudden it knocked the air from my lungs and forced me to draw in a breath.

Yet even my muddled thoughts came from a rough halt when I saw him. He saw me, too. Strangers, alone in an unlikely circumstance, one that would normally cause one to turn away, yet I stayed. Stayed because the smile he shared was blinding, so bright and full of life that for a moment I stopped breathing, and I knew at that moment I wanted what he had, that spark of life and childlike happiness that was so rare nowadays.


	2. 2

The second meeting happened only a day after the first. The thoughts of the boy, with his bright smile and burning eyes consumed my thoughts and left me wanting more.

Stepping outside and into the chilled air, I rushed to the forest, my legs leading my body before my brain even had a say in the matter. When I came to a stop he was there. In a simple red jacket and blue jeans, hair wild and unruly as if he had forgotten to brush it, he was grinning. Even as he laid in the freezing snow that no doubt sent shivers throughout his body, he was still grinning, as if just existing in that very moment was the best thing in the world.

No words were shared between us, even as I came and sat next to him. A comfortable silence. I had no account for how much time had passed as we had sat in the snow, within the forest, hidden away from anyone else that could try and touch us. Even as the sun set and he rose from the snow, crystals of ice falling from his body so mesmerizing I wanted to reach out and touch it, all he did was smile.

I wanted to ask his name, but the words caught in my mouth. A smile, with dimples and closed eyes, so blinding that I felt the urge to look away but resisted. Even as I sat in the snow, watching his figure retreat along the path that we had both ventured down, the thoughts of him never left my mind, only grew stronger and burned with a fire I had never had before, leaving me shaken yet yearning for more.


	3. 3

I hadn't seen him for a month. Forced to be locked within my home or to only venture out for school, it was a soulless cycle that was screaming to be broken. Finally, I had been given a break. A chance to escape, even if only for a few hours, and I desperately grasped at it.

Sprinting into the forest, he was there once again, and when he saw me that same blinding smile appeared on his pale complexion. I rushed over to him, and shared our first words between us. An apology, for leaving him alone.

All he did was smile, an acceptance. We sat together and let hours tick by, our shared breaths clear as the sun in the cool winter's sky. I found myself not wanting to leave, even as the sun set and he rose from his position in the snow. Our time together was over, for today at least, but I couldn't share the same smile he had.

Yet his departure this time was different. A smile bright on his face, eyes lit up like a blazing fire, he stepped over to me as our breaths and souls joined into one. I almost chased after him as he stepped away, but stopped myself, allowing a small smile to appear on my own face.


	4. 4

Our next meeting was down by the river. We had met in the forest, but he had grasped my hand and led me deeper into the woods, to a rushing stream with pale seafoam crushing against jagged rocks, sharper than a cliffside.

There was something about him I had failed to notice before, a playful and childish aura that surrounded him and everything he did, yet even so he had a grace to him, his movements flowing like the rushing water of the river, any movement he made caught your eye and mesmerized you.

Even with the rushing current, he stepped in and pulled me with him. A laugh escaped my throat, and all at once I realized that I needed him, needed the escape he provided me, needed his smile and bright eyes to cheer up my day.

My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him, dripping with water and clothes clinging to him, while he smiled and laughed and our breaths intertwined once more.


	5. 5 (Version 1: Original Ending)

It was only in our last meeting that I realized just how bright he was. He was a flame amidst a burning forest, a fire in his eyes that burned into the darkest parts of your soul. He entranced you and made you want more, made you want to live like he did, happy and carefree and without a worry in the world.

He shared his flame with me, his passion for life and everything in it. A fire that raged inside both of our souls, that only grew greater as we became one, but soon the flame was burning to ash, smothered by snow and reduced to only cinders.

Day by day he grew weaker. No longer did we have our shared moments in the forest. No longer did I seek him out as an escape from all my worries and pain, now he became intermingled within in. Instead of the forest we had a hospital. Instead of sitting in the snow, I sat by his side in the hospital bed, holding him as he only got worse.

Yet what hurt me the most was that the smile never left his face. Still, he held the fire in his eyes, and each day as I looked at him it only seemed to burn brighter. As he grew weaker, his passion for life grew stronger, a flame refusing to be burnt out.

Even as the forest around us burned he still remained smiling, as happy as ever. The trees around us were burning, crumbling to ash and dust, and everything was screaming at me to run, every atom in my body begged me to flee, but my body remained paralyzed as I stood with him.

And soon, the forest burned completely. One last breath was shared between us, and slowly I watched the fire in his eyes go out, the smile fade from his lips. Even as I was pulled away by nurses and my own parents, I was deaf to the screaming that escaped my lips. Even as my throat grew hoarse screams of pain escaped me, and every time I closed my eyes I saw his blinding smile, one that would never leave me.

Even now, so many years later, his smile never left me. I cherished what we had, but never had the fire that burned inside both of us came back. Instead my soul felt heavy and cold, empty with a space that would never be replaced. He taught me to live, but in the end, even though he was the one to burn away, he had lived more than I ever would be able to. Part of me envied him for that, but even so I could never let myself grow to despise him, even the slightest notion of dislike towards him gave me unimaginable pain.

He was a flame amidst a burning forest, a fire in his eyes that burned into the darkest parts of your soul. In my dreams that flame came to me, and in my dreams that fire that burned inside both of us reemerged. Our time shared together was never forgotten, but only the thoughts of us being together could bring the flame back. Even so, in the end, it wasn't enough.


	6. 5 (Version 2: Alternate Ending)

Even as he grew weaker, he never seemed to burn out. He was a flame amidst a burning forest, a fire in his eyes that burned into the darkest parts of your soul. One that refused to go out, blazing through anything it could get its hands on, a prayer to be saved.

At one time, I thought I had lost him. The beeping of the machine came to a halt, and a chill worse than the winter's air cut through my body like a blade. I had to be held back, deaf to my own screams of agony as I was removed from the room.

In that moment, it was like I was numb. Words were spoken to me, but I didn't listen. My ears rang and all I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest, so scared of what could be that I didn't realize that hot tears were streaming down my face.

It felt like agony, waiting for time to pass. In and out, I watched doctors go through the same door over and over. Adults in white coats with a fancy piece of paper that made them better than the rest. Adults, that thought they were better than the rest.

As one walked over I was only able to catch a few words in my frenzied state, but it was all I needed to force my body to move, to rush into the room and grasp at him like I had been the one to die, because without him it felt like I had.

Barely conscious, eyes hazy and unfocused, he stared at me but it was as if he was blind to the fact that I was there. Even so, I sat beside him, grasping onto him and waiting. Eyes refocused and soon the spark came back, a smile slipping onto his lips as the slowly circular movements I had been unconsciously pushing into his hand stopped.

The fire in his soul returned, while mine grew stronger than ever, determined to live more than I had ever wanted to in my life. We both knew then, even without saying it, that our souls had joined and become one, complete and full and unbreaking. A fire so strong that we could burn anything in our path, and a smile that was shared between us was all I needed to know that we felt the same. Complete.


End file.
